No Delay for Ebbers

Lawyer Reid Weingarten had asked U.S. District Judge Barbara Jones to move the trial to January or February. This time Weingarten cited turmoil over a recent Supreme Court decision that calls federal sentencing procedures into question.

The Supreme Court decision said Washington state judges could not impose harsher sentences than state guidelines based on information not presented to a jury.

Jones told Weingarten he could ask again for a delay if the government files a fresh indictment in the case.

Some prosecutors have been filing new indictments with more information to get around the sentencing confusion.

Jones had already denied one request by Weingarten to move the trial because he was representing former Tyco International lawyer Mark Belnick, who was acquitted last week of grand larceny and other charges.

Ebbers is accused of fraud and conspiracy in the $11 billion collapse of WorldCom.

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